Cigarette packing machinery



Sept. 4, 1934. D. B. KIDD 1,972,657

CIGARETTE PACKING MACHINERY Filed May 1. 1931 3 Sheets-SheetIIIII/I/IIIIA Sept. 4,1934. 5 m: 1,972,657

C IGARETTE PACKING MACHINERY Filed May 1, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I b-mlNVE/VTOR Sept. 4, 1934. D. B. KIDD 1,972,657

CIGARETTE PACKING MACHINfiRY Filed May 1, 19:51 I: Sheets-Sheet 3 UNITEDSTATE PATENT OFFICE CIGARETTE PACKING MACHINERY.

David Blewes Kidd, London, England Application May 1., 1931,.Serial No.534,414

In Great Britain May 22, 1930 r 2 Claims. (01. 226 -5) This inventionrelates to cigarette packing machinery, and has for its object toprovide means whereby an incompletely filled wise defective package maybe marked ejected from the machine.

or otheror otherwise distinguished, or if desired, automatically Theinvention consists of an apparatus for use on a cigarette packingmachine comprising means for detecting whether one or more of theelements (for example, the cigar ettes, the

foil wrapping or the carton) forming a complete packet is absent, saidmeans electrically operating a device which ensures that any packetwhich is deficient of one or more of said elements will not be issued asa normal product of the machine. I The invention will be drawings, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a diagram of the packing showing the electric circuitnecessary when the invention is applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view, partly i showing the device for detectingif a is missing.

Fig. 3 is a side view more particularly de-' scribed with reference tothe accompanying machine n section, cigarette of a portion of themachine showing the magnet which is-actuatedby the operation of thedevice shown in Fig. 2 and the co-operating parts.

Fig. 4 is a view of Fig. 3 in the direction-of the arrow A, the bed ofthe machine being shown in section.

Fig. 5 .is a plan view of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view of the magnet and wheel shown in Fig. 3,the view being taken in the opposite direction.

Figure '7 is a diagram corresponding generally to Figure 1 illustratingin moredetail a suitable circuit for anarrangement employing threedetectors, and I Figure 8 is a perspective view switch comprising anelement of the of r a rotary circuit.

Referring to the drawings,--the cigarettesare fed from a hopper 1 to thebed2 of'the machine and carried along in batches by pusher pieces 3attached to an endless chain conveyor 4.

Each batch of cigarettes is carried through the detecting device B, andin the present instancethrough a foiling apparatus -C=and a blankfeeding apparatus D.

diagrammatically, as it will be obvious that the cigarettes may bepacked in any desired 'man ner, and on any type of. machine; wi partingfrom the invention.

thout "de-' an insulatedblock carried on the striking bar 10 of themachine, and a connection from this block passes to spring contacts inthe detecting device B, and when the necessary connection is made owingto the absence of a cigarette, to the frame-of the machine.

The block on the striking bar is so arranged that when the machine isstopped, the circuitis completely broken until the striking bar is movedagain to start the machine.

The .rotary switch 7 causes the circuit to be completed during the timethat the cigarettes are passing through the detecting device and at allother points of the cycle, the circuit is dead. Referring moreparticularly to Fig. 2, it will be seen that'the detecting deviceconsists of a frame 11 carrying a series of spring plungers 12. Theplungers .press on pivoted levers 13, each ofwhich lies directly in thepath of a cigarette; so that as a batch of cigarettes pass, all thelevers 13 are lifted, but if one cigarette is absent,.;.thecorresponding lever does not lift.

4 series of spring fingers 14 rub on the plungers 12, the fingers beingmounted on an insulating; block 15 and connected to the circuit. Eachplunger has an insulating sleeve 16 which is arranged toinsulate a brasssleeve 17 entirely from theplunger. v

, When a cigarette passes beneath each of the levers .13, the plunger israised, and the correspending spring finger is thenin contact with theinsulated sleeve 17 so that no current passes, but if a cigaretteismissing as shown in the case of the router: plunger, 'thefplunger doesnot lift and the spring finger 1 1 remains in contact with the topportion of the plunger and therefore in direct contact with the frame ofthe machine. Consequently; whenever a cigarette is missing one of theplungers causes the circuit to be. made (the rotary switch7 making atthisinstantiandthe passage ofthe current energizes the-magnet 5Q Thecigarettefeeding apparatus is so designed that the cigarettes-are quitefree tofall on to the bed of the machine and consequently if a cigaretteis missing thecorresponding gap will always'occur in-the upper row ofthe batch as move and the spindle of the pinion has an the cigaretteswill roll and fill up the Whole of the space in the bottom row. When themagnet 6 is energized its armature 18 is attracted and a pivoted lever19 is thrust away from the magnet against the action of the spring 20.

The lever 19 forms a latch which holds a pawl 21 in the position shownin Fig. 3. The pawl is under spring tension and immediately the latch 19is released, the larger end of the pawl moves nearer to the wheel 22.The wheel 22 is rotated in synchronism with the rest of the machine andhas a number of spring pressed plungers 23 which are normally held inthe inward position by pivoted spring catches 24 which engage pins 23fixed to the plungers23 (see Fig. 6).

When the pawl 21 moves inwards towards the wheel it causes the nextsucceeding catch 24 tomove on its pivot, thus releasing the corresponding plunger 23 which is pushed outwardly by its spring. The pawl 21 isangular in section and a portion of the same lies in line with the pathof the plungers 23 as the latter rotate, and consequently, immediately aplunger is released and 1 moves outwards it simultaneously pushes thepawl 21 and rotates it slightly about its spindle so that the latch 19can move towards the body of the magnet under the pressure of the spring20, thus re-setting the latch which once more holds the pawl 21 in theposition shown in Fig. 3. I

As the wheel 22 continues to rotate in the direction of the arrow shownin Fig. 3, the projecting plunger will eventually come into contact 3with the end of a spring controlled lever 25 and counterjecting plunger23 at the point where it contacts with the lever 25 synchronizes withthe lower part of the cam .30, arriving beneath the roller on the arm 31so that immediately the latch 27 permits the lever 28 to move, the camroller on arm 31 which is integral with the lever 28 drops under theaction of spring 28 ,.and this movement swings the quadrant 32 about itspivot through the medium of the link 33. The rotation of the quadrant 32causes a pinion 34 to ejector plate 35 attached thereto, so that apacket located on the ejector plate is swung through 90 and deliveredinto a guide channel 36 provided with retaining catches 37; Furtherrotation of the cam 'lifts the arm 31 and through the quadrant 32restores the ejector plate to the position shown in Figure 4, the latchlever 27 dropping into latching relationshipwith the lever 28. T V

The magnet 6 is so arranged with respect to the wheel 22 that theoperation of the magnet by the passage of an imperfect batch ofcigarettes at the detector position causes aparticular plunger toprotrude from the wheel, and after the wheel has rotated through theangle between the magnet and thelever 25 the same plunger presses on thelever 25 and the operation of the lever 25 causes the said imperfect.batch, which has by this time arrivedat the ejecting position,

to be ejected by the plate 35 and delivered into the channel 36.

Further rotation. of the Wheel 22 brings the projecting plunger 23beneath a fixed plate 38 which presses the plunger inwards so that theplunger catch 24 once more engages the small pin 23 projecting from theplunger and holds it in position.

It will be seen that in Fig. 1 a foil feeding apparatus C and a blankfeeding apparatus D are shown, the figure representing a typical machinefor wrapping cigarettes in paper packets. It will be appreciated thatdetecting devices may be fitted to these two units and operated ifeither of the units fail to feed a sheet of foil or outer wrapper,respectively.

In the case of the blank feeding apparatus D the blanks are arranged topass over a guide plate 39 during feeding, and above the said guideplate is arranged a very light steel spring 40 connected to the circuitwhich includes the magnets 6 and the .switch segment 7*. The spring 40normally touches the guide plate, but as the blanks pass over the guidethey separate the spring from the plate. At this instant the segment 7is in such a position that the two wires leading to it are joined bycontacts so that if a blank is not fed at the proper time, the electriccircuit is completed and the ejecting apparatus is caused to work asabove described.

In the case of the foil feeding unit C, the device is slightlydifierent, because the foil is a conductor. As the foil is passing alongthe bed of the machine, one of the side flaps passes beneath a spring 41which is carried on an insulating block, the extremity of the springtouching a similar insulating block '42 fitted flush with the surface ofthemachine bed. The spring is connected to a relay 43 through a battery44 to the machine bed so that as a strip of foil passes the spring isearthed by it as the foil, of course, is touching the machine bed withmost of its surface and the relay is operated. The armature of the,relay therefore moves over and breaks the circuit of the magnet 6 thecircuit being completed through the switch segment 7. If a strip of foilfails to pass, the magnet is operated as the switch segment 7 makescontact at the appropriate time and therefore the package passing thefoil apparatusat the time willeventually be ejected from the machine, inthe manner previously described.

Each detecting device is connected by a separate sector on the rotaryswitch 7, the segment 7 being connected to the cigarette detector andthe segments 7 and 7 ,as above described.

The various magnets are disposed at different positions around the disc22 to agree with the several positions of the detecting devices; 6 beingfor the foil, 6* for the cigarettes and 6 for the blank.

When the machine is working, the operation of the detecting devicecauses the lamp 8 to light up andwarn the machine attendant that themachine is not functioning correctly as it may happen that anobstruction in the machine will cause a series of packets to beincompletely filled, and it is desirable to warn the operator so thatthe fault can be remedied as soon as possible.

Alternatively. a bell may be used to give the required warning, and amain switch may be incorporatedin the circuit sothat the machine may berun without the detecting device operating under any circumstances.

In another arrangement the detecting device may be caused to open arelief valve on" the suction feed apparatus of a stamp applying unitconnected to the machine so that no stamp will be fed for an incompletepacket.

Obviously the invention may be applied to any kind of packing machine,for example, to a machine for packing cigarettes in slide and shellcartons, in which instance the operation of the detecting device isarranged to prevent the feeding of a shell so that the slide is ejectedfrom the machine in the open condition.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In apparatus for use on cigarette machines, the combination withmeans for feeding cigarettes through a predetermined path in successivebatches, of means disposed at one point in the said path for detectingthe absence of a cigarette from a batch, and mechanism controlled bysaid last named means for removing a faulty batch at a point displacedfrom said first named point, said mechanism including a rotatableelement driven in timed relation to said feeding means, spring pressedplungers carried by said element, each allocated to a batch ofcigarettes, means normally retaining said plungers in inoperativeposition, a device actuated by said detecting means on the presence of afaulty batch for releasing and rendering operative the plunger allocatedto that batch,

and means having a portion thereof spaced circumferentially of saidelement with respect to said device and extending into the path ofmovement of a released plunger for actuation thereby to remove thefaulty batch.

2. In apparatus for use on cigarette machines, the combination withmeans for feeding cigarettes through a predetermined path in successivebatches, of means disposed at one point in the said path fordetectingithe absence of a cigarette from a batch, and mechanismcontrolled by said last named means for removing a faulty point, saidmechanism including a rotatable element driven in timed relation to saidfeeding means, spring pressed plungers carried by said element, eachallocated to a batch of cigarettes, means normally retaining saidplungers in inoperative position, a device actuated by said detectingmeans on the presence of a faulty batch for releasing and renderingoperative the plunger allocated to that batch, means having a portionthereof spaced circumferentially of said element with respect to saiddevice and extending into the path of movement of a released plunger foractuation thereby to remove the faulty batch, and fixed means locatedadjacent said element for engaging and resetting a released plunger tooperative position.

DAVID BLEWES KIDD.

batch at a point displaced from said first named i

